Door construction



91 16, 1952 cfs. HUIZENGA 2,610,369

DOOR CONSTRUCTION Filed June 10, 1949 fizz/6142 5? Wales.

Patented Sept. 16, 1952 tUNl-TED, STATE DOORSCONSTRU CTION I v 1; Charles-B..- Huizenga, NilesfMiclL, assignorto v The Kawneer Company,

ration of Michigan Niles Mich alcorpoi 'Applicationsl' em; 1949, seriai-ivoras-ers i (01. 20ers),

The present. invention. .relates-to door .f-rames and has as its general aim..the-provision of an improvedv construction; adapted: tosupportra relatively large and-heavy plate of: glass in a frame having very narrow structural railsayet. havingthe: several-parts so constructed and related that 1 I 31 Claims.

theedoorzis not; unduly subject to sagging; and may be; quickly and easily adjusted to eliminate anysagging-thatshould develop, inuse.

Inethe prior art itrhaszbeen the universal practioe in; constructing-door :frames. to provide .a

frameadesigmd to. avoid, so far as .possible, any

meohan-i'car load or. strain on ,theglass, since it.-

has: :beenheretofore believed: that. any loadimposed on=,-, the glass would-lessen.- the. resistance.-

oLthe ,glass-ttoebreakagel. The present. applicant has learned,, however; that such is -not the case, andlhasrdiscoveredthat-when the-rails comprising thel marginal structure of. aglazed, door are.

designed according to these. teachings-and the glass amounted-therein in .a firm. but semieree.

' tain the marginal edges. of the glasssheetf' silient.mannerfthelglass itself maybe employed assa-structural.member and subjected. to. a sub-Y stantial. load without weakening; it'.

- In ,-the..present. teachings the. glass is employed.

35MB, diagonal beam extending from. the. lower corner .of. thedoor onthehinge side to theuppercornenonthe outerside, with. the marginal edges ofthepane secured..in ...metal.channels but held out of contact with themetal. by resilient glazing compound, and. it .has' beenwfound that. when the glassplateis so mounted,.it, acts as :a compression beamtolsupport theweight of the door, yet does so without. setting up any ,strainsthat tend to.

crack or break'the pane.

In .th'epreferred. form of the invention illustrated injth'e drawingsof'this specification? Figure-1' is a front elevational'viewf of "a door' according to these teachings;

Figure-2 is an enlarged fragmental elevational view-of th'e upper outward" corner of "the door-i1"- lu'stratedin Figure 1, showing the junction betweenthe railonthe outer 'or looking side of'the door'= with the topmail, the view'zbeing jpartially" broken' 'away t0'il1ustratethe mannerin which the" glass is secured;

Figure 3 is a detailsection'al view throughthef top rail showing anad'justable shim as contem plated by this invention, the view 'beingtaken' substantially on theplaneof the line 3,3 of Fig u're 'Z; and" Figure l' is a detail *sectional'yiew" through" the railf'on' the' outer or looking-'- side? of :the door, the" view being takensubstantiallyontheplaneof the' 55w thepractice of the invention these A door according to these teachings --is- .ordi- I narilyof rectangularform; having an inner-ore,

hinge side-rail ;l 0 mountedon supporting hinges. H and |2,-so-that-the rail-i0 supports-theentir i door structures 'The rail Hl-has-abottom -railt-l secured-at its lower end and extendingoutward inla direction generallyparallel to the? floor li l and a 1701:) rail -l4'similarl-y disposed at its upper end. The outboardor locking-.side'of-the ,door

comprisesan-outer raill-5- extending-vertically a channel I9 extending var'ound'th'e entire"'mner. edge of the .frame structure. 7 In the prior artit has been common practlo secure' themarginal edges of' the glassjirra cha nel of'the frame-by putty applied tofill the cha nels; but it has'been learned that with this-pr'a tice'it isextremely difficult, if not impossible to provide a door having narrow rails yet capahl maiht'ai-ning'l'evel, non-sagging augnment; The present I inventiondeparts irom prior teachings f by suspending the glass-in what m'a'y be termedf a free floating? r'nountingi," where *it's'edges are spaced from 'theframes aro'u nd the entire mar m of'the pane, and-are contacted: only by re1anve1y soft shims at the lower iriner comer of the frame and at the" outerupper cornri Thus the' weight' of the glass" and" frame, YY actingdownwardly on the-outer or unsupported lock side of thedoor'i'is carried to a substantial extent by the glas's' plat itself; whiohfllncti ons as a. dia'g olfl'al bam adti irrcompjression between the}inside 'lovver e mar and outside upper: corner of the structure; In: carrying outfthese teachings, it is preferable} provideglass mounting'shims ofsoft lead, whi is'sufiioiently solid to-withstand the-compression load, yet not so hard as to'be apt to chip damage the edges of th'e'pane'. These-shims are 50' mounted in pairs located at the inside lower and outside upper cornersof the channel l9 rememthe glass wand the'r'ails [Bf l3; l4-a11d" l5*AS seen inFigure '1','a fixed shim 22 is mounted-he r the-lower'end of'th'e inner rail lfllwh'i-le its acting 'shim 23 is located atright 1 angles the on 'th'e lower rail l3-near its inner'endi nular groove 28 formed in a machinescrew 29,

which is threaded through the opposite walls 3] and 32 of the top rail.

When the door is to be installed, the marginal frame comprising the rails l0, I3, I 4 and 15 may be hung on the hinges H and I 2 prior to the insertion of the glass. The glass pane is then placed in position and loosely secured by applying the removable molding l8 around the entire inner edge of the frame, inserting glazing springs on each side of the glass at spaced points, and applying glazing compound. It is to be, noted, however, that the actual edges of the glassdo not contact the metal frame at an point. The edges of the glass are sealed against the entrance ofwind, dust, rain, etc, yet the glass is spaced awayfrom the metal surfaces of the rail by the shims 22-43 at the lower inside corner of the door and'the shims 2425 at theupperouter corner thereof. The opposite face surfaces of the glass are held out of contact by the glazing springs, and by the resilient glazing compound which is applied as at 20 and 2!.

The alignment of the door may be established by adjusting the screw 29, turning it inwardly until the rails l3 and I4 assume a true horizontal'position withoutuperceptible sag. The yieldable nature of the glazing compound allows it to flex sufiiciently to permit adequate adjustment in'this'respect. Also, since the glazing compound does not enter between the edges of the glass and the bottom surfaces of the channels IQ of the frame, rails, any saggingthat may later develop,v even after long continual use, may be corrected by again turning down the screw 29 to lift the frame rails with respect to the glass plate. teriallydisturbing'the glazing compound applied at the points 20 and 2|, since there is relatively little movement at' these points 'andthe compound itself is sufficiently yieldable to permitv the movementrequired I I I From the foregoing it will be seen that the present-invention departs from prior teachings feasible touse rail structures that are less rigid than heretofore required and, consequently, may be made very muchnarrower to give improved styling and" increased visibility, yet retain the necessary physical strength 'foraccurate alignment; 7 in addition, the present teaching avoids diffi culties of maintenance and permits easy re-adjustment 0f the alignment of the door structure which, in prior art constructions, has been ac- 1 complished only by entirely removing the glass and its retaining moldings, scraping out excessv putty, realigning the door by application of external braces. and replacing the glass, putty This may beaccomplished without ma-' and moldings after the adjustment has been made. i

The form of the invention illustrated in the drawings of this disclosure is believed to be ideally suited to an explanation of the principles of the present invention, since it comprises a preferred embodiment now in commercial manufacture. It is not to be overlooked, however, that the precise details of construction and exact arrangementof parts illustrated may be varied some what without sacrifice of all of the advantages inherent in the inventive thought, and that modifications of the present teachings will be apparentto those skilled in the art. It is, therefore,

pointed out that the teachings of this disclosure are for purposes of illustration rather than of imitation, and that the inventive concept extends equally to any variation or modification thereof within the terms of the appended claims. Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to protect by United States Letters Patent is: I

l. A door construction consisting of a rectangular frame having a vertical innerframe rail;

with top and bottom rails supported wholly 'by said vertical inner framerail and extending outwardly from' the top and bottom of said inner rail, and an outer rail extending vertically between the outer ends of said top and bottom' of the bottom rail, and another set adjacent the a junction of the upper end of the outer rail and the outer end of the top rail, whereby the glass is secured between said supports to function as a free floating diagonal compression member from the lower inner corner to the upper outer corner of the door;.'together with mechanical adjusting means for at least one of said supports to raise or lower the outer side of the'door;

2. A door construction consisting of a rectangular frame having a vertical inner frame rail, with top and bottom rails supported wholly by said vertical inner frame rail andextending outwardly from the top and bottom of said inner v rail, and an outer rail extending vertically between the outer ends of said top; and bottom rails and supported wholly therebypall of said rails having a channel along their inside edges; a rectangular sheet of plate glass received in and spaced from the bottom of said channel,

together with glass retaining molding extending throughout the length of said channel of said cent the upper end of the outer rail and theouter end of the top rail, whereby the glass is supported between said shims to function as a free floating diagonal compression member from the lower inner corner to the upper outer corner of the door; together with mechanical adjusting means for at least'one of saidshims to adjustj its contact with the glass and raise or lower the outer side of the door.

3. A door construction consisting of a rectangular frame having a vertical inner frame rail, with top and bottom .rails supported wholly by said vertical inner frame rail and extending outwardly from the top and bottom of said inner rail, and an outer rail extending vertically between the outer ends of said top and bottom rails and supported wholly thereby; all of said rails having a channel along their inside edges; a rectangular sheet of plate glass received in and spaced from the bottom of said channel, coacting sets of glass supporting shims diagonally disposed adjacent opposite corners of said glass, said shims consisting of a lower pair of relatively soft pads in the glass channel adjacent the lower end of the inner rail and the inner end of the bottom rail, and an upper pair of relatively soft pads in the glass channel adjacent the upper end of the outer rail and the outer end of the top rail; together with resilient glazing compound between the opposite faces of the glass sheet and the edges of the glass channel whereby the glass is freely supported between said shims to CHARLES B. HUIZ'ENGA.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 954,094 Greene Apr. 5, 1910 1,349,887 Jutkins Aug. 1? 1920 1,995,8 9 Rogers Mar. 26, 1935 2,228,358 LoWry Jan. 14, 1941 

